Category Archives: Jordan

These photos were taken on 22/06/2014 inside of Qasr al Abd (literal translation from Arabic: palace of the slave) (Wikipeida article) close to the village of ‘Iraq Al Amir (Wikipedia article), Amman, Jordan.

According to Wikipedia, this palace dates back to almost 200 B.C. In it, I saw the largest building stones in a historical place in Jordan. The next photo gives an indication about how large the stones of this palace are.

A nice tourist serving as a scale for this photo

These are general views from inside the palace:

Inside of the palace, my brother and I did the following “risky” stunt:

Concerning the two of me in the above photo, my brother took two photos of me at two different times from almost the same spatial ponit. Therefore, I could put the two photos on top of each other using PowerPoint and then cropped one photo to only show me. Following are the two original photos:

Cropped part

Concerning that my brother and I did a risky stunt, we did not do that because what you see is an optical illusion. Actually, we did not plan that. We just disocvered the illusion while viewing the photos on PC. He and I jumped not from the second floor but from the column in which I am standing on in the second photo. The landing point is not the ground but a continuation of wall. That means a less than meter difference in altitude between the two points. So, it is not as dangerous as it seems. Actually, I do not think it was dangerous at all. Therefore, the next time you happen to pass by Qaser al Abd, you know where and in which position to take a photo.

This is a copy-paste from a post published today by DAAD Jordan’s facebook page:

DAAD proudly presents its brand new brochure of its next intake for its Master portfolio “Developing-Related Postgraduate Courses”!!!

The funding line comprises 36 English Master programmes at different German universities in the fields Economic Sciences, Development Cooperation, Engineering,Mathematics, Regional Planning, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Public Health, Social Sciences and Media Studies. All programmes are open for Jordanian applicants and there is full scholarships available. Note: Applications have to be directed to the respective university and NOT to the DAAD. All information on the programmes can be found here : http://www.scribd.com/doc/135838156/Postgraduate-Courses-2015-16 Application deadlines differ from programme to programme but most deadlines are between September and October. Good luck with your application!

# Prerequisites and Requirements for DAAD scholarhships: Are you eligible for a DAAD scholarship? https://www.daad.de/entwicklung/studierende_und_alumni/bildung_postgradual/ast/08164.en.html

# There are only two Medicine-related master programs and they are in Public Health. Their full details are on pages 101-108 of the DAAD’s brochure on Scribd.com. You can see the embeded Brochure below starting at page 101 (Master of Science in International Health (Berlin)). Alternatively, you can click here to go directly to page 101 on the Scribd website.

Three years after graduating from medical school, can a medical doctor have a PhD? In Germany, the answer is “in general” yes. In case a medical doctor is interested in doing a PhD, mainly in basic sciences, then he can directly enter into a PhD program in Germany. I was told that this is the “general rule.” Our certificates, MBBS (Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Surgery), are considered equal to master in Germany. In other words, you do not need to have done a master in order to enter into a PhD program. A German friend of mine told me this information, and I confirmed it in a famous Facebook page about higher studies in Germany (recommended by DAAD officials in Jordan). I asked my question in “German” here. To be 100% sure, they told me to check with individual universities to find if my MD degree from outside Germany is equivalent to master. However, they confirmed that the general rule is that it is equal. I was interested in a program in a University in Berlin called “Humboldt University of Berlin (wikipedia page).” Therefore, I mailed a department in it. For the year 2013/2014, according to the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings (Powered by Thompson Reuter), this university is number 94 in the world:

Source: A page for the Humboldt University at the Times World Ranking Website.

I sent the following email to a department in this university asking if I can enter directly into a PhD program. They replied that my academic background (which is equal to that of all graduates of Mutah Medical School, and that of all graduates of medical schools in Jordan) makes me qualified to “apply for [their] PhD program.”

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Dear Sir or Madam,

I hope that my email will find you doing well. I graduated last June from medical school here in Jordan, Middle East. I have a MBBS (Bacehelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) [Mutah University Graduates has MBBS. Source: The faculty’s page at Mutah Unviersity Website]. A German friend of me told me that in Germany, those with MBBS could directly do PhD. I asked this question in the Facebook group Research in Germany. They answered with yes… I am interested in a program of yours. May I ask if I may apply for it now that I do not have a master degree and only have an MBBS?

Best regards.

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Dear Jameel K. Hijazeen,

Thank you for your e-mail and your interest in our program. It is correct that a MBBS is equal to a German Master’s degree.With your academic background you are qualified to apply for our PhD program.

If you have any further questions, you are welcome to send me another e-mail or give me a call.

Best regards,J.

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• As I easily noticed, the language of teaching in most programs is in English (Amazing, huh?). As a proof of your English knowledge, universities require certain TOEFL or IELTS scores. In one university, they wrote that it is enough if you can provide them with a certificate from a professor who says that you know a good level of English (I cannot remember the precise characteristics of such a professor).

• The requirements for each program are different. The competition is very high in some programs. In particular, one program asked that you pass an exam on Biology and Chemistry. Many details are present in the websites of each program. You can mail them, and from my experience, they reply quickly.

• The tuition fees are very little as universities are supported by the German goverment. In one PhD program, which consists of six semesters, the tuition fees of each semester are 280 euro, which covers free transportation ticket for the entire semester. Concerning living costs, in Berlin, for example, they estimate living costs to be around 1,000 Euro per month. I read and heard about estimated living costs ranging from 700-1200 euro per month. In one study conducted by HSBC bank, it was concluded that among 13 of the world top countries, it is chepeast for overseas students to study in Germany!!! The list of countries is shown in the figure below:

Living costs in 13 of the top world countries: Australia is the most expensive and Germany is the cheapest! Source: Website of HSBC bank.

• You can get sponsorship from different organizations. I know of two. One is called the KAAD. However, the most famous is called the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst – German Academic Exchange Service). They offer thousands of scholarships every year. They have a central branch of them in Jordan: http://www.daad-jordan.org/en , https://www.facebook.com/daad.jordan ). They hold a free information lecture إستشارة طلابية each month. The lecture is very informative and the explanation is great. It is present by a Dr. Abdelnasser Hindawi. He is very nice, cooperative, and welcomes any questions on the email of DAAD Amman info@daad-jordan.org. He replies quickly and with full details. The nearest lecture is today, Tuesday, 22.04.2014, at 05:00 PM in Goethe Institute, Amman, https://www.facebook.com/daad.jordan/posts/10153964741815068?stream_ref=10 You can follow the DAAD Jordan’s facebook page for future lectures. The last 6-8 lectures Ads that I saw stated that the lecture would take place on a Tuesday). The last time I checked, the health-related scholarships they have were two master programs in Public Health. The master programs can be finished in one year. They require however a practical experience of at least two years, among other things. The tuition fees of one program, as I remember, are about 14,000 Euro. They are all covered by the DAAD. For full details of these two programs, and all other scholarships to Jordanians, see this PDF by the DAAD Jordan: http://www.scribd.com/doc/147312520/Overview-DAAD-Funding-Jordan

Doing a PhD does not mean that you will continue your life in teaching. This will be very important in your CVs. I know some people who took masters in order to increase their chances of being accepted for residency in the USA. However, some scholarship program will tie candidates with researching about a topic that will help his/her country and with showing “genuine” interest of returning back to his/her country. For example, Yousef Jameel Scholarships:

Humboldt-University is offering five doctoral scholarships with support of the Yousef Jameel Scholarship Fund. Students of Arabic countries, Malaysia and Indonesia are eligible for the scholarships. The scholarships are awarded for a period of three years and commence on October 1. The stipend awarded is in the amount of 1350 Euros per month, plus materials expenses. To be eligible for this scholarship, English and German skills are required. Women and disabled students are encouraged to apply. Applications should be submitted till 15th July 2014.

*** Note: I based little information above on my own short experience. I tried my best to put references where possible. Please feel free to make any corrections for the benefit of me and future visitors to this page ***

Goethe Institute, Jordan, holds a sample test before each B2 or B1 exam (Probably also before other types of exams, but I am only sure of these two.) Last month, I participated in the B2 sample exam which is held every two months. I paid only 10 JD. We were 13 students. To take this sample test, you do not need to be a student at Goethe and you do not need to have registered for the B2 exam (It costs 120 JD). It was an amazing experience. Therefore, I will write about it as Goethe Institute published today the timing of the new B2 sample test: 15/04/2014 at 08:45 AM.(https://www.facebook.com/events/1416591968600818/?ref=22).

Last time’s sample test was under a direct supervision of the director of the Goethe Institute Amman, Dr. Christiane Krämer-Hus-Hus. For about 10 minutes before the exam, Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus explained many things including the aims of the sample test (I hope my rememberance is good):1) To give students the chance to experience how the real exam is.2) To give students an important feedback on what to concentrate on. More importantly, the director said more than one time, “We do not want you to lose your money. We want to give you a chance to withdraw your money that you had paid for the registration for the B2 exam.” I think that the Institute will give you 110 JD (out of 120 JD) if you decided to withdraw up to three days before the date of the exam. Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus continued saying, and it was very funny and interesting, “After you finish the exam, if we tell you not to take the exam and you still insist on that, then do that if you like to throw your money through the window on the street.” At the end of the exam, Dr, Krämer-Hus-Hus beautifully advised the 11 out 13 students who failed the exam, “Go and invest your money in learning German instead of taking this exam and failing in it!”

[I got 42.5. I needed 45 to pass. I had been learning German only since 7.5 months then. No one in my batch had taken the B2 exam yet].

Last time, the origin of the sample test was from the book “Fit fürs Goethe-Zertifikat b2, 2 Auflage, 2012”. The book is amazing and I highly recommend it preaparing for Goethe’s B2 Test. Today, an employee at Goethe Institute told me that next time’s exam would be a real Goethe test not from a book. This is more rational! We began the sample test at 09:30 AM with general instructions. We finished at about 03:00 PM with instructions on the speaking section.

The details of the sample test:

We did three out of four parts of the Exam (Reading – Lesen, Writing – Schreiben, and Listening- Hörverstehen). The timing of each section is like the real exam. We started with writing, then continued with listening and reading. Concerning the writing section, they made copies of the texts that each of us wrote before a teacher from the institute corrected them. After we finished the above three written parts of the exam, they distributed randomly the uncorrected copies of the texts at us. They taught us how a text is corrected (On what points are marks given. For example, grammar, spelling, covering the points in the question, use of good expressions, etc.) This was amazing! I did not know that the correction is that systematic. Next, we worked in pairs to correct and give a mark for three random texts that were given to each pair of us. The director of Goethe Institute then wrote the marks on a white board. She then wrote beside each of our marks the mark given by the teacher. We compared the two marks. Most of our marks were higher than the real marks given by the teacher. Interestingly, one student got zero/15 because he did not understood the topic of the writing correctly and wrote an irrelevant text. Making a hard fest, the director of Goethe Institute finally concluded, “We were stricter than you are!” They then gave us the corrections of the text we wrote, the reading, and the listening sections.

Concerning the speaking section (Mündlich) of the exam. It takes a lot of time for teachers to do it for all participants. Therefore, a teacher accompanied us after we finished all the previous three parts to a video room. After only 2/13 students were told that they had passed and were recommended to take the exam, only five students were interested to attend this section. Like the writing section, the teacher gave us written instructions and explained to us how the performance of participants is evaluated (Fluency, grammar, content, covering the points of the question, etc.). She then showed us a sample official video of real students who took Goethe’s speaking section. This is the most beautiful part. She then asked us to rate the answers of the students in the video. We then discussed the strengths and weakness of each student’s response.

Finally, to pass the exam, you need:

1) Get at least 45/75 in the written section (Reading, listening, and writing). Regardless of whether or not you passed each section. For example, a student who got 20, 20, and 5 can pass the exam.2) Pass the speaking section with at least 15/25.

If you failed in any of above two, you should repeat the WHOLE TEST. You cannot only repeat individual sections.

The experience was great. It provides you with a very important feedback and allows you to live almost the real exam. Most importantly, it is only for 10 JD. I highly recommend it.

This blog is by a German langauge teacher. According to the third post in his blog (titled, “Ankunft in Amman (Arrival in Amman)”, the “Bayer” arrived in Jordan on 3/3/3014. He will be teaching at the German Jordanian University and will be staying in Jordan for a year. In his blog, he is writing about his daily life here in Jordan. He is writing more or less every two days.

The blog content is interesting like its title “A Bayer in Arabic Exile”.

Language Generation Center … known as LGC, is a Multilanguage institute, and was founded for the purpose of teaching different languages. The diverse Multilanguage courses that the center offers are German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, Greek, Bulgarian and English as well as Arabic for non-native speakers for kids, youth and adults.

All instructors are qualified and the senior instructors have a long experience in the methods of teaching. The courses are filled with rich information involving around every aspect of language and therefore students can savor the competence of the teachers, who are friendly and highly motivated to mediate the language they are teaching.

With its expanded relations, the center offers the ability to interact with multinational cultures around the world. All students with different language levels are welcome to join, whereby the center also meets the demands of foreigners wishing to learn Arabic, to approach the remarkable language in Jordan. Therefore, LGC is pleased to greet everyone on board.

LGC also welcomes medical doctors and nurses coming from our partners Aramcco in Germany (www.aramccogermany.com) to learn German language.

Dr. Renata Asali (Executive Director) is a PhD holder from the Humboldt University in Berlin in Teaching German as a Foreign Language, has a seven-year-experience in Educational Cooperation and Teaching at the Goethe Institute Jordan as well as 10 years at the University of Jordan. She is also a certified examiner for all Goethe exams as well as telc B1/B2.

Mrs. May Asali Shihabi (Management Consultant & Quality Assurance) is certified by the Goethe Institute Munich in Teaching German as a Foreign Language. She has more than 30 years of experience as an instructor and trainer at the Goethe Institute Jordan, where she was for ten years the Head of the Language Department. She is also a certified examiner for the Goethe exams.

Like this:

“Up until the 19th century, visitors would kiss the pope’s shoes, and the tradition is still that all visitors, women included, bow to him, but Francis behaves as he did before he became Pope and is not interested in protocol,” a senior Vatican official said.